Burn Out
by AcousticLovely
Summary: Lucy's going to public school! But wait... why does everyone have bloodshot eyes? And why does the guy she's crushing on have to be a total stoner?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So I tried out a sort of underused concept and I think it turned out pretty good. Let me know if you guys would like another chapter or if I should leave it as a one-shot. This is my first Fairy Tail fic and I tried my best so enjoy!**

 **I do not own Fairy Tail, Mashima does.**

It was a Tuesday, though not just any Tuesday. Oh no, this particular Tuesday was Lucy Heartfilia's first day of school at Magnolia High. Her head was held high as she passed the schools gates, nothing was going to stand in her way this year! She'd already spent one whole year at a stupid prestigious all-girls high school, and it was boring as _fuck_. So after many hours of screaming and begging and crying, she finally, _finally_ ¸ convinced her father to let her move out and finish her schooling at a public school. Now was her chance to rebel and to whatever the hell she wanted with whomever she wanted! She was tired of all the bullshit she'd lived through, expensive parties, balls, dealing with stupid suitors. No, now she was finally going to date whoever she wanted and be her own person.

Her apartment wasn't big. As a matter of fact, it was rather small to her father's standards. He was only okay with it when she assured him that it was just enough room for her and her only. Loke, her bodyguard, insisted on moving in with her to keep her "safe" but she insisted on moving in alone and that she could take care of herself. On the inside though, she knew that having Loke around would prove to be a bother if she _ever_ wanted to date someone. He was so goddamn protective!

Anyways, back to the present. Magnolia High was big. Lucy never expected it to be this large, even though it was a public school. Her pressed white blouse was tucked in neatly to her uniform navy blue skirt, and a blue necktie hung neatly at her collar. Uniforms were a drag, but nearly every school in Japan had to put up with them so she didn't mind too much. This one was even kind of cute!

Walking to her class proved to be a bit of a challenge. The school was so big and she didn't know where her classroom was! She wandered aimlessly through the halls for about ten minutes, thanking God that she got to school twenty minutes early. She was in Class 3G, which was nowhere in sight. Why was she in the A's? Grunting, Lucy was just about to give up and go to the office when a strange pink-haired boy with a scarf on slammed right into her right side, knocking them both to the ground.

"Uughhh, sorry about that. DAMN YOU POPSICLE ASS!" shouted the strange boy as he looked up from his spot above her.

Lucy was in a daze, it all happened so fast. One second she was just standing there looking for her classroom the next minute she was on the floor with a weird, yet cute she noticed, pink haired guy straddling her. She oriented herself just in time to see a raven-haired boy walking away from the pair. Lucy was in the midst of trying to keep her face from turning its infamous shade of magenta at their compromising position when she noticed that the guy smelled a bit funny.

Wait, was that _pot_?!

"Hey, are you okay? Sorry about that, Gray over there can be a real asshole sometimes." Said the pink-haired guy, removing himself from the compromising position to sit beside her.

She noticed, as he looked right at her, that his eyes were bloodshot.

Quickly noticing the weird look he was giving her for she hadn't yet answered his question, she nodded. He gave her a wide grin and stood up, offering his hand to her. Even though it was blaringly obvious this guy was a complete stoner, she couldn't banish her thoughts of how hot he was. She never considered pot smokers to be attractive, but something about this guy made her blush. She accepted his hand and stood up as well.

"I don't think I've ever seen you here before," he said "are you new here?"

Lucy nodded again. "Yeah, I've been trying to find my classroom. I'm in class 3G."

He grinned at that. "Hey, that's my class! I'm Natsu by the way!" he said as he began to lead the way to their classroom.

"I'm Lucy." She smiled

"Nice name. Welcome to Magnolia High, Lucy." Said Natsu, as they walked into their classroom.

"Thank you!"

As soon as they entered the classroom, they were met with the chatter of multiple students. Lucy scanned the room for a few moments. There was the raven haired guy she saw earlier, he was sitting next to a pretty blunette who was offering him a lunch. At the other corner of the room was another blunette with her nose buried in a book, red rimmed glasses at the tip of her nose. A large guy with lots of piercings sat next to her, snoring away. In the center of the room were four very beautiful girls. A redhead was sitting down scribbling away in her notebook while a bodacious white haired girl was conversing with what seemed like a smaller version of her. Next to the pair was a brunette who was casually sipping from a juice box. All in all, it seemed like a lively bunch.

There was another detail she noticed though. At least three fourths of the pairs of eyes in the room were bloodshot and the room reeked of pot.

After taking another quick scan of the room, Lucy felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked up to see Natsu smiling down at her. She felt her heartbeat quicken just a little bit.

"Come on! I'll introduce you to everyone!"

She felt herself being dragged to the middle of the room, directly in front of the four pretty girls and in the center of everyone.

"Guys! This is Lucy! She's new here so everyone be nice okay?!" he shouted, raising her hand up so everyone would notice her.

"Awe come on, Natsu! When have we ever been mean?" the smaller white haired girl complained. She looked directly at Lucy and shot her a kind smile. "Hi, I'm Lisanna. This here is my sister Mira, she's in the grade above us but she likes to come hang out here in the morning." She said, pointing to the more bodacious snow haired girl beside her.

The pretty redhead looked up from her scribbling to offer Lucy her hand. Mesmerized by the girl's beauty, she shook it. "I'm Erza, student council president. Nice to meet you, Lucy!"

Lucy noticed that she may have been the only one in the room without bloodshot eyes. Even Lisanna and Mira were giggling about absolutely nothing while they blinked rapidly to make the redness go away. Before she could think another thought though, another presence made itself known.

"Hey Lucy, Natsu didn't try to sell you anything did he?" the brunette asked, eyeing Natsu's backpack suspiciously.

"Cana!" Natsu protested, "It's her first day, of course I didn't."

The brunette, who Lucy now knew as Cana, just smirked and greeted Lucy before resuming her sipping of the juice box.

"Hey flame ass, is this the girl you practically bulldozed this morning?"

"Ugh, shut up Gray! And yeah, it's her but I already apologized and she said she's okay so no big deal, right Lucy?" said Natsu, turning to her.

"You can tell us if he was mean or did anything inappropriate, Lucy." Said Gray, flustering her.

"N-no! We just-"

"Don't listen to Gray, Lucy. Natsu's not that dumb." Said the tiny blunette who had her nose buried in the book. She hurried out of her seat to greet Lucy. "Hi, my name is Levy. That giant guy over there is my boyfriend, Gajeel."

"That's your boyfriend!?" Lucy exclaimed, shocked. The girl was so tiny and cute, it was hard to picture her with a large, burly guy with over twenty piercings!

"Yeah. He'll be cranky when he wakes up, but once break comes around he'll be a big squishy teddy bear!" Levy giggled.

Lucy furrowed her brow. "Why is that?"

Levy blushed, her eyes darting to Natsu for a split second. "Well I guess you'll find out. Anyways, the bell is about to ring. You can have the seat between Natsu and me!"

Lucy looked over to see Natsu picking a fight with Gray, and simply took the seat to the right of Levy. With her in this desk, she had Levy to her left, Natsu to her right, and Erza behind her and Lisanna in front of her. They were all really nice, especially Levy. She could already tell they were going to be good friends.

Ignoring the fact that all her new friends smelled suspiciously of weed, excluding Erza and Levy, Lucy was excited to get to know everyone and for the new school year to start.

"So you think you're going to like it here?" a voice came from her right. She looked over to see Natsu grinning at her yet again.

She blushed, smiling happily. "I think this year is going to be a lot of fun!"

The bell rang immediately after that and a tiny old man walked to the center of the room. That was her teacher? He looked so old and fragile! And why did he have a pipe in his mouth? Teachers definitely weren't allowed to smoke in class!

The first thing her new teacher did was open some of the windows. It was only when he passed her row did he take notice that they had a new student.

"Why hello there! Are you the new student we have today?" he asked jollily. She nodded her head, still finding it curious how tiny her teacher was.

"Well stand up there, young lady and introduce yourself to the class!"

She complied and stood at the front of the room. Ah, speaking like this made her so nervous. She looked towards Natsu to see him giving her a reassuring smile, as were the rest of her new friends. Gaining confidence, her voice rang out loud and clear.

"Hi there everyone! My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I'm transferring here from Miss Mavis's Academy for Outstanding Young Women." She said, her voice not faltering once.

Gray whistled. "Fancy school." He said. She managed a nervous grin.

"Thank you, Lucy. You may return to your seat now. I'm glad to see you're already making friends. I'm Makarov-sensei, your teacher. These brats call me Makarov, or Gramps. You can call me whichever you prefer." Her teacher grumbled. "Well, let the lessons begin for the day, everyone take out your math workbook."

Simultaneous groans were heard all around.

Surprisingly, Lucy didn't mind the lecture at all. Makarov-sensei made the lessons fun and was constantly cracking bad jokes to keep everyone from falling asleep. She noticed Gajeel waking up in the middle of a writing lesson, and he didn't seem too happy about it. Levy just encouraged him to go back to sleep until their lunch break.

Lunch break came rather quickly for Lucy, and she was excited to eat the bento she'd made for herself. Ah, food is the best. It wasn't until she'd already set her food on the desk that she realized everyone, including the teacher, was getting up to leave.

"You coming, Luce? I can call you Luce right?" Natsu asked, staring at her curiously.

"Yeah that's fine. Wait. None of you guys eat lunch in the classroom?" Lucy was confused. At her old school, everyone had to eat inside the classroom, though she'd always longed to enjoy her lunch outside on a beautiful day.

Natsu gave her an equally confused look. "Why would you want to eat inside? We can't do fun things inside." He smirked. For some reason, that smirk told her he only wanted to do one thing during their lunch break.

Lucy sighed and allowed Natsu to lead her outside. She wasn't surprised to find out that they weren't headed to the courtyard. She just followed his lead until they reached a wooded area on the far end of campus. Internally thanking God that they were given an hour for lunch, she followed him into the wooded area into a clearing where everyone sat around enjoying their lunch.

"What took you so long, Natsu? Oh you brought Lucy!" squealed Mira. In a flash she was up and pulling Lucy to come and sit with the girls.

Oddly enough, even though everyone sat relatively far apart, everyone conversed with everyone. Gajeel and Levy were cuddling in the corner, Gajeel still looking grumpy as Levy tried to feed him some gyoza. Natsu and Gray were talking to Erza near the edge of the clearing, and she could see Erza's mildly disapproving looks. Meanwhile, she was sitting with Mira, Lisanna, Cana and the pretty blunette she saw with Gray earlier. The blunette was the first to speak to her as she sat down.

"Juvia is sorry for not introducing herself earlier, Juvia was too busy looking at her beloved Gray-sama!" she said, and Lucy could see the hearts forming in the girl's eyes as she spoke about her beloved.

"It's okay, really! I'm just glad I get to meet everyone!" she said, blushing slightly at all the attention she was receiving.

Everyone made polite conversation with her, asking her where she's from, how Mavis's Academy was, what her parents did and simple stuff like that. Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by an angry growl coming from the northeast end of the clearing, where Gajeel and Levy sat.

"Salamander! Do you have it or not? I'm starting to get pissed having to wait!" he growled, glaring at Natsu. Lucy sweatdropped at the scene.

"Of course I have it, dumbass!" Natsu sneered, "Erza just doesn't want us corrupting Lucy on her first day here!"

Lucy sighed. It wasn't like she didn't know what they were talking about. She did like to know that some people cared about what she thought and if she was comfortable. Smoking was foreign to her. No one at the Academy smoked and it was looked at as criminal to do so. Pot was illegal too and no one here seemed to care, even Erza, who seemed the most responsible of the group. Still, if it meant having a taste of the rebelliousness she'd been craving, it was worth a shot.

"I'm sure Bunny Girl doesn't mind? She's probably tried it before too!" scoffed Gajeel, earning a glare from Natsu.

Wait, Bunny Girl?

All at once everyone looked at her. Cana spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"You have tried weed before, haven't you?"

Lucy blushed. They must think she's such a prude! Though, she had to choice but to tell them the truth.

"Uhh I haven't." she said, watching everyone go wide-eyed, "but I'd like to…"

And with that it was unitarily decided, Lucy was going to try pot today.

Everyone gathered around as Natsu pulled a paper bag out of his backpack and laid all of the supplies on the floor. He also pulled some additional items out of his backpack, and surprisingly, Levy did as well as Gray. On the grass in front of her there was a jar filled with what she guessed was the marijuana, a small black tin, several small white papers, cigar wrappers, a lighter, and a few glass pipes. Levy pulled out a medium sized glass object that looked a bit like a vase with a metal bowl sticking out of it, and a bottle of water. She saw Gray pulling out another glass object but she couldn't for the life of her describe what it looked like or guess what it was, a pair of tweezers, and what looked like a roll of wax paper. Everyone pulled out a lighter.

"Alright, who's doing what today?" Natsu asked, looking around at everyone.

Juvia walked up to Levy. "Juvia wants to do the bong with Levy today."

"I think I'm gonna hit some dabs with Gray." Said Cana. She winked at him and he smirked back.

Lucy didn't know what dabs were but she could guess it had something to do with that weird thing Gray was holding.

"Okay then, who wants pipes?" Natsu asked, scanning the crowd. Lisanna and Mira raised their hands and he passed the small glass orbs to them.

Gajeel silently took a cigar wrapper.

"I hope everyone brought their own grinders today because I'm not grinding for everyone!" Natsu warned, grabbing the jar of weed and passing it around in a circle. Everyone except Gray and Cana took some and placed it in their own little tins.

Lucy didn't know what grinders were, but seeing the little bulbs of weed, she could take a guess at what they're for. She watched with interest as everyone finished putting the little bulbs into the small tins and started twisting the lids. Oh, so the little tins were grinders! She felt a hand atop hers and she looked to her left, startled. Natsu just gave her a small smile.

"Looks like we're rolling joints with Erza today. Since it's your first time I don't want to give you too much. These little things will only give you a slight high." He said gently, and Lucy whined a little on the inside when he took his hand off of hers.

Rolling joints turned out to be a lot harder than she thought it would be, but she followed Natsu's instructions and it turned out okay in the end. Natsu really only let her do the grinding by herself until it was fine and flaky. She noticed Natsu himself didn't roll one, just helped her with hers. Erza even rolled her own little joint to perfection. When she was done, she noticed Natsu reaching for one of the cigar wrappers.

"Sorry, but little joints like that aren't going to cut it for me anymore." He said sheepishly.

"What's the difference?" Lucy asked innocently, at which Natsu chuckled.

"Well this is called a blunt." He explained as he expertly rolled marijuana into the cigar wrapper. "It holds a bit more than what you have there. Give me a minute and I'll light it for you, okay?"

She nodded and waited for him to be done rolling his blunt. Meanwhile, she decided to look at what everyone else was doing. Lisanna and Mira were smoking out of pretty glass pipes. It looked simple enough, a lot easier than rolling a joint. Juvia and Levy were inhaling smoke from the glass vase, and she could see Levy holding a lighter to the metal bowl while Juvia inhaled the smoke that bubbled from the water in the vase. That one looked fun.

"That's called a bong. It's got water in it and Juvia and Levy insist that it makes the smoke easier to inhale. Personally I don't see the difference. I mean, it looks cool though." Said Natsu, not looking up from his work. He must have noticed her staring at the two.

Now what Gray and Cana were doing straight up befuddled her. Turns out that rolled up piece of wax paper had little golden pieces of wax rolled onto it. It looked a little bit like solidified honey to her. They were holding it with the tweezers and dipping it into the metal bowl and inhaling smoke out of the weird looking contraption. Curious, Lucy looked to Natsu for an explanation.

Noticing her look, Natsu explained. "Dabs are weird. Gray can probably go into more detail but they burn the wax and it gives them a really good high."

So she wasn't the only one who thought dabs were weird. Lastly she looked at Gajeel who was forever stuck to Levy's high, peacefully enjoying his blunt with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend. Levy wasn't kidding, for Gajeel does look a lot less intimidating when he's high.

"Okay, done!" announced Natsu, proudly holding up his work of art. He looked at Lucy, "Ready to light up?"

She nodded. It was now or never.

Natsu instructed her to put the end that wasn't twisted off between her lips and she did so, holding the joint between her index finger and her thumb. He brought out a lighter from his pile of things and she noticed it was bright red with a dragon decoration on it.

"You like dragons?" she asked absentmindedly. To her surprise, Natsu blushed.

"Y-Yeah. They're cool." He said simply.

He quickly flicked the wheel and a small flame came up from where the dragon's mouth was on the lighter. He held it to the twisted end of the joint and once he got it to successfully burn, he pulled away.

"Oohhh look guys, Natsu lit Lucy's joint!" squealed Mira, eyeing the couple.

"Get it Lucy!" cheered Cana

They both blushed at the comments, but Lucy chose to ignore it and focused on the smoking. How did this work anyways? She sucked some of the smoke into her mouth and blew it out, but she was sure she did it wrong and looked to Natsu for more instructions. Noticing her look, he furrowed his brow at her.

"Breathe it in, you weirdo." He teased, taking a drag from his blunt.

Realizing what she did wrong, Lucy took a long hit. She breathed the smoke into her lungs and almost immediately regretted it. It scorched her throat and she choked, coughing several times after taking the joint out of her mouth. Bleary eyed, she could just make out Natsu handing her a bottle of water, which she took gratefully. She chugged half of it to soothe her burning throat.

"You okay?" Natsu asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Newbie." Gajeel laughed, making her pout.

She wouldn't dare look at Natsu. How embarrassing, she'd choked in front of him! He must think she's some sort of wimp. All of a sudden she felt a hand rubbing soothing circles on her back, and she looked to the side to see Natsu smiling gently at her.

"It's okay." He said sweetly, continuing the soothing motions on her back. Oh Lucy was sure her face was on fire. He was too damn adorable.

"Take smaller hits, so it won't burn as much. Trust me, the high is worth it." He said, bringing his blunt back to his lips.

Taking his advice, Lucy returned the joint to her lips. She was surprised at how little it burned when she took smaller hits. It actually didn't burn at all, it was just very warming to the back of her throat. Then, after around five hits, she began to feel it, the wondrous high. It was hard for her to stop smiling and giggling after that. She spent the next fifteen minutes or so just giggling into Natsu's shoulder.

She was also very hungry.

Pulling her lunchbag out from her backpack, she ate her lunch in bliss. She wanted nothing to take her down from this high. With Natsu's sweet voice telling her jokes every few minutes, she continued to smoke as if she'd been doing it her whole life. This was the life.

But lunch was over much too soon.

Fifteen minutes before the bell was set to ring, Natsu had everyone pack up their lunches and various paraphernalia so they could make it back on time. Lucy still hadn't come down from her high though. Without realizing what she was doing, she reached for Natsu's hand and twined her fingers with his. Then, giggling slightly, she reached up and boldly planted a kiss on his cheek.

Of course Mira squealed.

Natsu stood stock still staring at the girl next to him. Her eyes were bloodshot but wide and expressive, with her cheeks slightly flushed and her mouth slightly parted. God damn she was beautiful. He looked down at their connected hands and smiled at her. She just giggled some more and nuzzled her face into his shoulder, mumbling something he couldn't quite hear.

"What was that, you weirdo?" he asked, wanting to know what she'd said.

"I said thank you for showing me this, Natsu. I had no idea being high could feel so good." She said, looking up from his shoulder.

He just grinned in return. "Your welcome," he said, "but we gotta do this again sometime okay? Today was fun, Luce."

Lucy smiled wide as an idea came to her. "We should go to my house after school! I have an apartment all to myself!"

Natsu blushed. Really? An apartment all alone with this ridiculously beautiful girl. He'd be fucking insane to pass an opportunity like that up. "Sure, sounds great. The bell is about to ring though, so we should head back inside."

The dup headed back into the classroom, adding to the already great atmosphere in the classroom and it was only minutes before Makarov-sensei showed up again. He sniffed the air and scowled at the students in the room.

"You damned brats! How many times have I told you not to get high before class! And look," he shouted, pointing at Lucy, "You've already corrupted a new student! Shame on you!"

But he continued with the lecture anyways.

Lucy came down from her high during the science lecture and she couldn't be more embarrassed about what she'd done. She _kissed_ Natsu! And she held his hand! He must think she's some sort of tramp or fan girl. And she invited him to her house?! What was she thinking? She wasn't thinking. She was high.

When school was over, she avoided Natsu as much as she possibly could. That was, until he approached her and asked permission to walk her home.

"W-Why?" she stammered. The last thing she wanted was to bring a stranger home with her.

He merely shrugged. "You mentioned you live alone, just thought you might want some company. It's fine if you don't though. And don't worry about earlier, we all say stupid shit we don't mean when we're high. It's totally fine."

Oh god it was like he could see her embarrassment. He was being really nice to her though, and he was really sweet and gentle while he helped her roll the joint and smoke it. There was something about him and Lucy just knew this little crush of hers could develop into something more.

Smiling, she said "You can walk me home, in fact why don't you stay for a bit? I'd like you to teach me how to roll a blunt."

Natsu's eyes widened at that. She was serious? Forcing himself not to show his surprise, he nodded and gestured for her to lead the way.

They walked in silence to her apartment after saying goodbye to their friends and ignoring more of Mira's obnoxious squealing as she declared them her 'OTP'. Lucy wondered if she'd been too forward with Natsu, maybe he didn't want to go to her apartment and show her how to roll a blunt. Well, he's the one who asked first, after all. No turning back now. They had finally reached her apartment on the second floor of the building.

Natsu marveled at how nice the small apartment was. His was a little roomier, but hers just looked nicer and fancier in general. There was a plush couch, a flat screen TV, and a small breakfast nook. Suddenly, a small white ball of fur bounded into the room from what he presumed was the bedroom.

"Plue!" squealed Lucy, going to pick him up. She turned towards Natsu. "This is my dog Plue! Say hi, Plue!" she instructed the animal as she nuzzled her face into its fur.

Natsu chucked. "You have a dog, that's cool. I have a cat, his name is Happy."

"That's adorable." Lucy giggled. Soon they were both laughing together.

Natsu cleared his throat. "So you want me to teach you how to roll a blunt?" he asked.

Lucy blushed. It had really just been an excuse to get him into her apartment, but she really didn't mind. It wasn't like she wasn't going to be smoking in the future, so she nodded.

"Come on, we'll do it together then we can share it." Natsu smirked, gesturing to her breakfast nook. Lucy nodded again and followed him to the small table, pulling her chair next to his.

As Natsu explained the mechanics of rolling a blunt, Lucy was ecstatic about getting to share it with him. Dare she be so bold as to kiss him again? She didn't know, but she did know that the high made her braver and bolder than ever. It may be embarrassing, but the direct way seemed to be the best way to get his attention for the time. So once Natsu finished explaining, they began working on it together. Lucy ground the bud and Natsu carefully rolled all of it into a neat blunt. He licked and melted it just a little so it would seal and it was finally done.

"Ready to light this baby up?" he asked, smirking again.

Lucy nodded her head excitedly. "I'm all fired up!"

Natsu's eyes widened, then he chuckled.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Nothing," he said, still chuckling, "I say that too."

Natsu handed Lucy the blunt, which she stuck between her lips as she'd done with the joint earlier that day. He lit it for her again and watched her take a short drag, chuckling to himself as she coughed just once. Then she handed it to him and he took a much longer drag, not coughing once. Soon they were passing the blunt back and forth with ease, equally enjoying their accumulating high.

Lucy didn't know how they ended up making out on the couch sometime later, all she knew is that she didn't want whatever he was doing with his tongue to stop. Wait, scratch that. She definitely knew how they got here. They finished the blunt some time ago, both content with their high when she asked if he wanted to watch a movie. He agreed and they watched Crazy, Stupid, Love because Natsu claimed it was the best romance movie of all time and she liked chick-flicks. Somewhere in there she ended up cuddled against him with him stroking her upper arm. Then she leaned up, he leaned down and that was that. And now they're making out on the couch.

He tasted like weed, but also like something else. If she could guess what fire tasted like, he tasted like that. His tongue exquisitely moved against hers and she moaned lightly into his mouth. She nipped at his bottom lip, earning a groan from him. He flipped them both so he was straddling her hips, similarly to how he was just that morning, and she had her hands tangled in his hair. His mouth moved from her mouth to her neck as his nipped, sucked and licked to his content, enjoying her breathy sighs and moans as he did so. Lucy felt like she was flying. This was the ultimate high, and she didn't want it to stop. She reached down to untuck his uniform shirt from his pants when he pulled away.

"Lucy…" he moaned, burying his face in her golden hair, "we have to stop. I don't want you doing anything you're gonna regret when you come down from that high."

She pouted, but he was probably right. Her high died almost immediately when he said that though and she sighed. "I'm sorry." She said, "I moved too fast, didn't I?"

He chuckled into her hair. "Don't be sorry, I enjoyed being here with you today. But I'd like to get to know you better." He said, pulling away and looking at her.

She noticed his eyes were no longer red. He must have come down from his high too.

"So what do you say you let me take you on a date? A sober one?" he asked, smiling down at her. She smiled back.

"I'd like that."

And just like that, she knew she would never regret trying pot.

FIN

 **Authors Note: I DO NOT condone the use of marijuana for those under 18 that don't live in places where marijuana has been legalized. This is a mature fic for a REASON.**

 **Either way I hope you guys enjoyed! It was originally going to be a crack fic, but it turned out into some legit NaLu romance. Some Gajevy in there too. I hope you guys enjoyed my first Fairy Tail fic! Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to continue this story because honestly, I think this concept is pretty cool. If I'm being honest, when I was in high school, party goers and pot smokers weren't uncommon among the crowd. So yeah, please enjoy. And REVIEW! I love it. It feeds my motivation.**

 **I don't own FT.**

Lucy couldn't believe these past two months. She was in complete stoner land! Every day at school was the same thing: learn, smoke, learn, make-out with Natsu. What a life! Seriously though, everything was great. She had a boyfriend of her own now, and she loved everyone in her class. She even got to meet people from other classes, too! Class 3-S was also full of stoners apparently, cute ones too (shh don't tell Natsu she thinks so). Lucy was beginning to love school now that she wasn't at that stupid all-girls school. She couldn't wait to tell all her old friends how great regular school was.

"You _really_ made out with a guy your first day knowing him? _While high?_ " her best friend, Yukino, said over the phone.

Lucy just giggled bashfully. "Yeah, I know right! It was so much fun hanging out with him and all his friends, though that would have never happened if I was sober!"

Honestly, she could hardly believe it happened at all. She knew her attraction to Natsu was instant, but to go so far with him in just one day? Yukino must think she's gone crazy! Still… it had been one of the most enthralling experiences of her entire life.

"I still can't believe you tried pot! You're such a badass, Lucy!" Yukino gushed, excited for her friend.

Yukino was the kind of friend Lucy never expected to meet at the prestigious Miss Mavis's Academy for Outstanding Young Women. She hated the school just as much as Lucy did, and she was actually the one to convince Lucy to leave. The two of them loved to wreak havoc in the stupid prestigious school, especially on those stupid prissy girls that Lucy vowed to never be like. If Lucy was being honest, Yukino was the only thing she missed about the dumb school. Oh how she wished she could take her to regular school with her!

"Thanks!" said Lucy. There was a sudden knocking at the door. "Oh hey, I gotta go! Natsu's here!" she whispered while walking to the door. There was a rushed "okayhavefunbyee!" on the other line and then she quickly rushed to open the door.

Not that she would ever say it to his face, but the sight of him in casual clothes made her face feel like it had lava poured on it. He looked so _sexy_ in those khaki cargo shorts, black and red plaid button up, and of course the ever-present scarf wrapped around his neck. Good lord, this gorgeous man was hers and she had no idea how she ever managed to snag him.

Once she finished her subtle (or maybe not) checking him out, she looked up to see him giving her the same stare. He was checking her out? But what if she didn't even look nice?! Panicked, Lucy looked down and was relieved to see that she picked out something cute today. Her white button up was unbuttoned at the top to show just enough cleavage, and she too was sporting a pair of khaki shorts. She could never be more grateful to her father letting her move out, which meant no more stupid dress code!

"You look nice." Natsu said plainly, interrupting her thoughts. Lucy beamed back at him.

"Thanks, you look nice too." She said, letting her eyes wander appreciatively down his lean form.

"Checking me out, eh?" he smirked, eyes glinting.

A light pink dusted Lucy's cheeks. "I'm allowed, aren't I?" she shot back.

Natsu chuckled. "Of course you are, as long as you let me return the favor."

Oh god, there goes her face again. Lucy would forever swear her face just wanted to be a tomato. She quickly changed the subject.

"What are we doing today?" she asked timidly, peering up through her bangs.

Her boyfriend shrugged. "I didn't have anything planned? Can I come inside?"

"Oh yeah." She stepped aside to allow the man into her home. He immediately made himself comfortable on her couch, placing his backpack on the floor next to him.

He really never went anywhere without it, Lucy noticed. Why didn't he just leave it at home like any normal person? She voiced her thoughts to him.

"Are you crazy? My dad lives there and if he were to see all of this I'd get my ass kicked." He replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your dad?" He never spoke about his father. She definitely knew he had parents, he just never brought them up or even bothered to take her to his house. Her brow furrowed briefly. Did he not want her to meet his family?

"Don't make that face. You'll get to meet him soon." Assured Natsu, noticing her complicated look. "He's going through some things right now, but as soon as he gets better you'll get to meet him. I promise."

The smile he gave her while saying that made all doubtful thoughts vanish from her mind. Sure she'd only been dating him for a couple of months, but she already felt so close to him. Her attraction went so much deeper than just his looks or bad boy tendencies (which she always fawned over). Smiling, she went and plopped down on the couch next to him, turning on her TV. They were already comfortable, why not just have a lazy day? She was scrolling through her Netflix menu when she felt him throw an arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to him. Lucy immediately leaned into his warm body. How he was so warm, she would never know.

"What do you want to watch?" she asked, not bothering to look up from the TV screen. She felt him shrug next to her.

"Wanna smoke and watch a bad comedy?" he suggested. Lucy snorted, of course he would suggest something like that.

"Sure, sounds like fun." She agreed. It was funny how two weeks ago she wouldn't have even considered sticking a blunt between her lips but now it was hard to go a day without feeling that magnificent high. _He's truly corrupted me_ , she thought humorously.

"Worst part is, I don't even regret it." Natsu murmured into her hair, nuzzling her temple.

Lucy's face flamed. "I said that out loud?" she squeaked. That's so embarrassing!

He outright laughed at her for that one. "Yeah, you did. Weirdo."

She pouted. "Whatever…"

She didn't realize she had leaned away from him until he was tugging her back to his chest. She could smell the cologne he used. It smelled like heaven. Lucy was about to lean into him until she remembered his teasing. Forcing another pout, she jerked away playfully.

"Aww, come on. Don't be like that, Luce." He leaned in and kissed her neck. Her reaction was immediate, surrendering to his touch and allowing shivers to travel down her spine. Curse him for being able to make her feel like this.

Natsu continued to kiss her neck sensually, taking his time and coaxing her back into his arms. God, how did he make her feel like her whole body feel like it was on fire? His kisses were hot against her neck and she let a small squeak escape her mouth as she felt his sharp teeth graze the spot between her neck and shoulder. Natsu growled and in one swift movement he pulled her onto his lap, placing each of her legs on either side of his hips so she was straddling him.

Lucy's face was flaming, but strangely she wasn't embarrassed. This was how a normal afternoon with Natsu turned out. They took a lot of shit for it at school, especially during lunch when it was hard to keep their hands off of each other. Gray and Gajeel would pretend to be gagging and Mira would _not_ stop gushing about how she immediately predicted it. Even Lisanna—

Oh hell, she couldn't even think anymore. Natsu roughly placed his lips on her and squeezed her hips. They kissed fiercely and with fervor, Natsu's lips never letting up on her own. It was funny how she never expected him to be gentle, but he was never rough with her. Lucy felt her entire body go aflame as his arms wrapped around her back and brought her close to him so that their chests were pressed flush against each other. It was getting too hot, too hot. Wasn't he hot too?

Without much thought she began to unwind his scarf from his neck, tossing it to the other end of the couch as his tongue ravaged her mouth. He nipped her bottom lip and she whimpered. Too hot, too hot. All of her clothes felt too tight all of a sudden, like they were suffocating her. Uncomfortable, she began to squirm in his lap. Natsu groaned at the movement and then there was something hard poking at her inner thigh. His cell phone maybe?

She squirmed some more. Whatever was in his pocket was only adding to her discomfort and judging by his incessant groaning whenever she pressed into it, it wasn't much more comfortable for him. Still hot, too hot. Ugh could _someone_ please help her get her shirt off? Giving up, Lucy slumped in his lap and allowed him to kiss her languidly. Noticing the sudden change in her demeanor, Natsu pulled back.

"Something wrong?" he asked, running his hands up and down her sides. She shivered, then pouted.

"It's too hot. I want to kiss you, but it feels like I'm on fire." She replied, averting her eyes and nibbling her bottom lip, hoping he would catch the hint.

He did.

"Too hot, is it?" he smirked, diving towards her neck once more, gently sucking on her most sensitive spot. The action brought another shiver down the blonde's spine.

"Maybe I can do something about that…" he mumbled against her neck.

Natsu was beginning to feel the heat as well. He wasn't even high and he still felt like he was floating. When he felt her shift against his groin he almost lost it. It had taken all of his self-control to not throw her on the couch and rip their clothes off. And now she was practically giving him permission? Fuck, this girl was going to be the end of him.

He kissed her neck again and brought his hands up to her shoulders as he began to lightly tease her collarbone with his tongue. It was becoming too much for Lucy and she reached up to unbutton her blouse. Just as she was about to pull the first button loose, Natsu smacked her hand away.

"My job." He growled.

 _Oh does he even know how sexy that sounds?_ Lucy thought, moaning into his touch. Ever so slowly, his hands began to wander down towards the buttons of her blouse. Using one hand to pull the first buttons loose, his brought his other hand up to cup the back of her neck and bring her lips to his once more. His hand moved faster, now eager to get the stupid shirt out of the way. He couldn't resist the low groan that escaped him once he pulled the last button free and shoved the shirt down her arms. Now she was topless and on his lap. _Oh my god._

Pulling away, he stared down at the blushing blonde in his lap. _Dear fucking Christ_ , what did he ever do to deserve this moment? Instinctively he leaned down to capture her lips again, when his cellphone rang from his backpack.

Lucy pulled away. "You gonna get that?" she asked.

"Don't want to." Natsu sighed, pulling her into him once more.

They kissed some more, doing their best to ignore the incessant playing of the Legend of Zelda theme song that was coming from Natsu's phone. Secretly, Lucy loved that that was his ringtone. She rarely went anywhere without her Nintendo DS and played the game any time she was bored. Lucy moaned at the way her boyfriend's hands flattened against the plane of her stomach. Oh she wondered how his sculpted abs would feel beneath her fingertips. She was just about to reach for the top button of his shirt when Mr. Brightside played loudly from her phone on the breakfast table.

She whined. "I should get that, it might be my dad."

Natsu just rolled his eyes, but smiled genuinely anyways. She couldn't help that her dad was strict and overprotective. "Go, answer it. I'll just wait here."

Lucy gave an apologetic smile and got up from his lap, pulling her shirt back on and fastening the last five buttons. If it was her dad, she wasn't sure she could hold a full conversation with him topless, even if he couldn't tell. Checking her phone, she noticed it wasn't her dad calling her this time.

"It's Mira." She said simply before hitting the 'talk' button. "Hello?"

"Lucy!" Mira's voice rang from the other line. "I'm so glad you picked up! Is Natsu with you?"

Lucy looked to her boyfriend who was sitting on the couch still, petting Plue. It was adorable how quickly the dog took to him. Curious, Natsu looked up at her.

"Y-Yeah he's here. Do you need to talk to him?"

"Please? I'm holding a small get-together at my place and I need Natsu to bring his stuff." The girl said slyly.

Sighing, Lucy passed the phone to her boyfriend. She'd seen enough teen movies to know what 'small get-together' meant. Mira was throwing a rager. Was she invited? She should be automatically invited since she was Natsu's girlfriend, right? Timidly, she watched Natsu converse with Mira. He didn't seem reluctant in the slightest.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll be there. You're welcome. Bye, Mira." And with that, he clicked the phone off and began digging through his backpack.

"You're going to Mira's now?" Lucy asked shyly. Maybe he didn't want to bring her…

He just looked up at her quizzically. "Did you not hear me? You're coming too."

The way he said that was as if she should have known. He really was the best when it came to these things. Ah, just the way he looked at her made her heart melt. Wait, did she hear him right? She was going to get to go to a party? _Oh hell yes!_ It's always been a dream of hers to live like a normal girl and go to actual high school parties just like in all those 90's movies she loved so much.

"We're going to a party?" she squeaked, feeling her face heat up. How was she going to tell him she's never even been to one?

Natsu simply rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, Lucy we're going to a party. Don't say that in front of Erza though, she prefers to call them 'friendly get-togethers'."

He began to shuffle through the items in his beloved backpack, making a thoughtful face as he did so. "I should have enough for tonight, but I should call Gildarts just in case. We've gone through a lot this week and I haven't had a lot of time to restock. I'll do that now. Here, help yourself to what's in there." And with that, he grabbed his phone and stepped outside.

Sighing, Lucy walked over to where his backpack was on the couch and pulled out the jar of pot and a grinder. Setting the items on the breakfast table, she went to go and get her most beloved item from her bedside table. She smiled as she looked at the gorgeous glass-blown bulb. Natsu had gotten it for her on their first date. They'd stopped by a smoke shop and she met the group's resident dealer, who happened to be Cana's dad. Yeah, that's right. Cana's dad was the guy who supplied Natsu with the seemingly endless supply of weed. The whole thing still baffled her but Cana assured her it was fine and that her dad really was just a nice guy trying to make a living.

While at the smoke shop, Lucy had seen the most beautiful glass pipe she'd ever laid eyes on. It kind of looked like the night sky. The glass itself was painted a dark blue color and it was littered with gold and silver sparkles. Natsu saw that it had caught her eye and bought it for her on the spot, not even giving her a chance to protest.

Now it was her most prized possession and she rarely smoked without it. Taking it to the breakfast table, she began to prepare herself a nice, packed bowl.

She was well into her high when Natsu returned from his phone call with Gildarts, satisfied grin on his face. "It's all set. We don't have to be at Mira's until six so we have that much time to chill out and stuff. She invited everyone apparently, so you get to meet the rest of our extended family."

In her time at Magnolia High, Lucy had already met some of their extended group. Elfman was Mira and Lisanna's brother, and he was already in university. He was _huge!_ But according to Lisanna, he was a big softie and didn't smoke often like she and Mira did. His girlfriend, Evergreen, and the rest of her posse were all huge stoners though. She, Freed, and Bixlow made a unique group of friends and they weren't too friendly when it came right down to it, except for Bixlow. He was nice whenever Lisanna was around. Mira's boyfriend, Laxus, was also in University and was out dealing his own stuff and even experimenting with some harder drugs in the market. If Lucy was being honest, the bag of cocaine she last saw him with scared her half to death. There was also Levy's _fanboys_ Jet and Droy, who weren't smokers either, but apparently liked drinking (and anything that involved Levy). All of them seemed pretty interesting, so Lucy couldn't say she wasn't excited to meet all of them.

After a short trip to Gildarts's ("You guys say hi to my baby Cana for me!"), Natsu and Lucy hung out at her apartment. It was still early in the afternoon, so they smoked, watched bad movies, and ate lots of junk food (read: munchies). Soon, it was five-fifteen and Lucy decided she needed something cute to wear to the party.

"You don't have to dress up. It's just a party. Everyone you know is gonna be there, Luce." Said Natsu, rolling his eyes as she flitted around the bedroom, looking for her perfect outfit.

"Yes! That's exactly why I have to look cute!" she insisted, dumping the cute black dress she was holding on the floor.

Natsu scoffed. "You're always cute." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lucy felt her face flame and at that moment, spotted a casual outfit that would be perfect for that evening.

After kicking Natsu out so she could change, Lucy prepped herself quickly with a strawberry-vanilla body lotion and her favorite Victoria's Secret perfume. The black v-neck t-shirt paired with dark blue ripped jeans and heeled black booties was perfect. She felt cute and sexy and ready for a party! She hoped she wasn't overdressed, or worse _underdressed_ , but it was her first party. She wanted to look good.

Natsu let out a low whistle as she exited her room, looking down at the ground shyly.

"Do I look okay?" Lucy asked sheepishly, a small blush dusted on her cheeks.

Lucy felt warm arms encircle her waist, pulling her into a lean and well-toned body. "You always look amazing, I don't know why you're asking." Natsu said simply, pressing a kiss to her temple.

After a quick walk to the subway, Lucy was surprised to find that they were taking a train to a more wealthy area of town. The houses on this side of town rivaled the one her father owned in size. Being reminded of her father, Lucy frowned. Her dad would probably be expecting a visit sometime soon. She loved her father, but he expected at least an entire weekend for a visit and she didn't want to spend so much time away from her friends and Natsu. Noticing her far-off look, Natsu nudged her in the ribs to get her attention. She shot him a surprised glare in return.

"You looked miles away, is everything okay?" he asked softly, reaching between them to intertwine their fingers.

Lucy smiled. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little nervous."

"Why would you be nervous?" Natsu frowned. Surely she was comfortable enough with their friends to not be nervous any longer.

"Well…" Lucy blushed, looking down at her lap, "It's just that I've never actually been to a party before. My dad never allowed me to go to any and it wasn't like the girls at the Academy went to parties."

Natsu's eyes widened. So that's why she felt the need to dress to impress. "You know, they're not all they seem like in the movies. We're really just a big group of friends hanging out. It'll be fun I promise. If you still feel weird about it though, just stick with me the whole time."

Smiling, the blonde nodded. "Oh and one more thing…" Natsu trailed off suspiciously, "Mira loves karaoke."

The party was already in full swing when the pair arrived at Mira's house. Party music blasted from huge speakers placed in every corner. There was a game of beer pong going on and it looked like the team of Gajeel and Cana was winning. The lights in the household were dimmed, so it was hard for Lucy to see much but it looked like everyone she knew in Magnolia was there and then some. Damn, Mira sure had a lot of friends. Judging by the way Natsu was being greeted by an abundance of strangers, she didn't doubt his popularity. The house smelled strongly of alcohol, and to her left she noticed Elfman and Evergreen manning the make-shift bar in the kitchen, serving and mixing drinks.

" _Get down girl, go 'head get down. Get down girl, go 'head get down."_

"OH MY GOSH IS THAT GRAY?!" Cana shrieked from the beer pong table.

Sure enough, when Lucy looked she saw Gray standing in front of a large flat-screen television singing and rapping along to Kanye West's _Gold Digger_. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that he was thoroughly wasted and probably also somewhat high. Natsu laughed out loud beside her, tearing up a little at the hilarious sight of Gray rapping in his underwear.

To say Lucy was surprised when she learned of Gray's habit would be an understatement. It was her second day of school and imagine her surprise when she found a shirtless boy chasing after Natsu down the school's main hallway. When the pair of boys had reached the classroom, Lisanna politely pointed out that Gray was missing an article of clothing and his response was less than what she expected ( _"Ah, damn. Not again…"_ ) and that's when she learned that Gray was a stripper.

"Lucy! Natsu! You guys are here!"

The couple turned to see Mira bounding down the stairs in the most revealing outfit Lucy had ever seen. Now Lucy was prone to wearing skimpy and questionable clothing ever since she moved out of her dad's house and into her own apartment, but she would never dream of wearing something that was basically underwear. Mira was wearing a bright pink bra underneath a large, see-through, white t-shirt and tiny shorts that disappeared underneath the shirt. Her bangs were pulled out of their usual ponytail and framed her face nicely.

"Oh my gosh! Lucy you look so cute!" Mira squealed, pulling the blonde to her side. Her breath smelled strongly of alcohol. Lucy laughed rather nervously, shooting Natsu a pleading look.

Natsu laughed, "Hey Mira, how about you stop drunk-harassing my girlfriend?"

"How about you hand over the good stuff or else I keep her forever?" the snow-haired girl said playfully. Natsu rolled his eyes and handed his backpack to her.

Mira smirked and thanked him before strutting into the kitchen to meet a large blonde man. Even though his back was turned to her, Lucy knew the hulking man was Laxus. He was a lot like Gajeel in the sense that he wasn't nearly as scary when he is high. Lucy had to admit, he and Mira actually made a pretty cute couple. Also in the kitchen was another, smaller blonde guy and a pale, dark-haired guy. The two were quite handsome and attracting quite a lot of attention doing smoke tricks with their hookah. It actually looked really fun.

"Hey Luce, how about a drink?" Lucy turned to see Natsu giving her a small smile as he grabbed her hand and began to lead her into the kitchen area where everyone was.

The concept of 'getting a drink' petrified Lucy. She'd never been much of a drinker. The most alcohol Lucy had ever consumed was a glass of champagne or two. These bottles looked like hard liquor! How did Natsu expect her to drink this stuff? More than that, how was he carelessly pouring Fireball Whiskey with cinnamon into a red solo cup? That looked extremely spicy!

"Alright, what's your poison? We have Vodka, Tequila, Sake, Rum, and Gin here. There's more bottles somewhere else I think. I can make a mean screwdri- what's wrong?" Natsu said to her, noticing her look. She'd blanked out completely at the mention of all the liquors.

Brought back to Earth with his words, Lucy coughed out another nervous giggle. "Well I don't really know. I haven't had anything except champagne."

"What, really?" He looked shocked, but then it seemed realization settled in. If she had never smoked pot or been to a party before he met her, it kind of made sense that she wouldn't have a hard drink.

 _Alright then what is a good newbie drink?_ He thought offhandedly as he began to concoct something in another red solo cup. Lucy saw him pour something clear and some kind of soda into a cup with ice. He tasted it and made a face before adding a couple of strawberries into it. He tasted it again and shrugged before handing it to her.

"What is this?" she asked tentatively. Natsu shrugged.

"It's vodka and rum mixed with strawberry Fresca. I figured you'd like something fruity," he said simply, taking a swig of his own drink.

"Yours looks spicy," said Lucy, peering down into his cup. By this time the cinnamon had sunk into the bottom of the cup and he had to swirl it around in order for it to be distributed.

Natsu smirked, flashing his sharpened canines at her, "It is, just how I like it."

Lucy grimaced. Natsu's addiction to spicy things almost couldn't be real. It was equally weird how Gray liked to eat everything either frozen or in slushie form. Her point was proven as the raven-haired boy was currently using the blender to make frozen margaritas. Those looked good…

Hesitantly, she took a sip of her own drink. Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad. The Fresca really masked the kick of the alcohol. Smiling to herself, Lucy decided that this would be her drink.

"Alright, party people!" came a loud voice from what Lucy could only assume was the living room, "Time to really get this party started. We got that Fairy Tail green over with Mira if you can find her, and Sting and Rogue are smoking Sabertooth over by the kitchen. Lyon and Sherry have that Lamia Scale and hit up Gray or Cana if you're up for dabs!" Cheers were heard all around as the DJ began playing _Shots_ by LMFAO.

Confused, Lucy turned to her boyfriend, who was busy laughing at a very red-faced Gray who was being danced on by an inebriated Juvia. Whether his face was red from the alcohol or from embarrassment, Lucy would never know. "Natsu," she said, pulling his attention away from the dancing pair, "what was he talking about?"

Natsu gave her a look that only said _you really don't know?_ And really, she didn't. Her boyfriend let out an exasperated sigh. "Well," he began, "we're all pot smokers here, right? Well we all go to Magnolia High, but each class pretty much has their own pot thing. Our class prefers to smoke Fairy Tail, which Gildarts supplies us with. Sting and Rogue over there prefer another dro, like Sabertooth. Personally I don't see it as that great. Same with Lamia Scale. Blue Pegasus is some other shit though, I don't mess with it."

Well that explained a little bit. Everyone was always talking about _Fairy Tail_ and being a Fairy Tail family. Lucy didn't even know there were different brands of pot. It did kind of make sense. Now she was curious to try some of the other types of weed. As they continued walking through the party house and mingling with various peoples, Lucy took larger and larger sips of the drink in her hand. By the time they'd made a lap around the bottom floor, Natsu was well into a second drink and Lucy had just finished her first.

Lucy's first impression of this party was that it was borderline out-of-control. She'd witnessed Gajeel fighting off Levy's fanboys, who were very drunk. Levy opted to leave the boys to their business and went to the kitchen to join Lisanna and Bixlow for shots. Cana was currently running around in her underwear with a guy named Bacchus ("He goes to a different school, but he's totally cool! Come join us for strip poker!" Cana had said prior to downing nearly half a bottle of high-proof Gin). Mira was playing bartender and mixing drinks for everyone while Laxus stood back and smoked a joint. The most hilarious though, was Gray and Juvia. Somewhere in the midst of all the action, Gray had lost his boxers and now had Juvia's shawl wrapped around his midsection while the pair searched for the missing article of clothing. Lucy would have thought Erza would be the most sober of their class, but to her surprise they found the redhead sprawled across the lap of a blue-haired guy. She was alternating between taking large hits from the bong in her hands and shoving her tongue down the poor guy's throat.

"That's Jellal," Natsu said when they found the pair, "Erza's boyfriend. He's homeschooled but they were childhood friends. Believe it or not, he used to be involved in the harder stuff but Erza pulled him out of it and now he only does pot like the rest of us."

"Erza has a boyfriend!?" Lucy exclaimed at the news.

"Well, duh. Who do you think she's texting all the time?"

Oh. That made sense. Erza was always on her phone, and now Lucy knew why.

Suddenly, a loud yet familiar voice sounded over the speaker system. Looking over towards where the DJ was stationed, Lucy saw Mira holding a microphone and Jet and Droy setting up something on her large, flat-screen TV. "Alright everyone! Now it's time for the real fun to begin! It wouldn't be a true Magnolia High party if we didn't have some karaoke up in here, right?"

Simultaneous cheers were heard all around, making the snow-haired girl grin. "Awesome! Now first up is actually someone who doesn't go to Magnolia High." It was hard to predict who was going up just from that much information. About a fourth of the people in the party were either in University or went to a different high school. Lucy looked through the crowd to see who might be the first volunteer for karaoke. Her question was answered quickly.

"Please give a warm welcome to Yukino!"

Wait, what?!


	3. Chapter 3

**And here is chapter 3! I've been so busy with school I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy!**

Lucy stared wide-eyed as her silver-haired best friend made her way to the center of the living room, where the microphone and large screen television were set up. How could Yukino be at this party? It wasn't like students from other schools weren't allowed to attend, but Lucy didn't think Yukino knew anyone at Magnolia High besides herself. A flash of guilt hit her as she realized it should have been _her_ to invite Yukino to the party instead of anyone else. Well, it doesn't seem to matter anymore.

The blonde clung to her pinkette boyfriend as they watched Yukino pick a song to her liking. Lucy couldn't say she was surprised when her friend chose to sing and dance to Rihanna's _Rude Boy_. Though on the outside the petite girl seemed shy and insecure, Lucy knew that underneath all of that was a confident, sexy woman. And boy, did she know how to work a song! The small girl swayed her hips to the beat of the music and dipped low when exaggerating a certain lyric.

"Damn… that girl can move…" Lucy heard one of Levy's fanboy, Droy, say in awe. Most other guys were looking in her friend's direction too, with the same gaping and drooling mouths.

Lucy looked to Natsu nervously, wanting to see how he reacted to Yukino's performance. She half-expected him to be tripping all over himself, much like every other male in the room was. Instead, she saw him watching the performance with a nonchalant, almost expressionless look on his face. He really looked like he didn't care. While Lucy was ecstatic that she needn't feel threatened by her best friend's sex appeal, she wondered why Natsu wasn't looking at Yukino like everyone else was. Even Gajeel, who had Levy at his side, was looking at Yukino with a great deal of interest. She certainly didn't blame him. Yukino was very attractive and knew how to work her assets.

 _Wait just a second!_ Suddenly, Lucy cast an accusing glare toward an unsuspecting pink-haired boyfriend of hers. She could see his eyes flit nervously from side to side as he tried to avoid looking at the silver-haired girl winding her hips on the dance floor. So he did notice how hot she was! He was just pretending not to notice so she wouldn't feel jealous! After coming to this realization, Lucy didn't know whether to be grateful that her boyfriend was at least attempting to hide his attraction, or if she should be angry that he was attracted to her best friend at all.

Natsu was beginning to feel uncomfortable under his girlfriend's scrutinizing gaze. Why was she looking at him like he did something wrong? Did she know that he found the girl performing attractive? Of course he found her attractive, I mean he is a guy, but he wasn't about to be so careless as to show it in front of his very lovely and _much hotter_ girlfriend. In fact, he was sure that once Levy was sober enough and remembered this entire incident, Gajeel had hell to pay for eyeing up _Sting's girlfriend._

"Would you stop looking at me like that? You're way hotter than that chick up there. Not to be rude or anything, but she looks like a total skank dancing like that," he sighed exasperatedly.

Uh oh. Her glare got harsher. Not a good sign.

"That _skank_ is my best friend Yukino from the Academy and you were _soooooo_ trying to avoid drooling over her!"

Wait, Lucy knew that girl? They went to that fancy-shmancy all-girls school together? Now that Natsu thought about it, it did kinda make sense. Lucy rarely talked about what her life was like at the Academy, but whenever it did come up she always mentioned a girl named Yukino. He'd also heard that Sting had a new girlfriend who went to some really expensive private school. Normally, he wouldn't pay much attention to Sting's current squeeze, but his blonde friend had confided in him, saying that he really liked this girl and wanted to be the best for her.

"Hm. You know, that's Sting's girlfriend. That's cool, I guess. He really likes her and all," Natsu mused absentmindedly to his girlfriend.

"Oh yeah, Yukino did mention she was seeing someone new. Is he the one who brought her here?" Lucy asked, genuinely curious.

Natsu smirked, looking at the younger blonde male who was lounging on the other side of the living room, taking in his girlfriend's performance. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. She gets along with Rogue well too, from what I've heard."

"She didn't tell me her new boyfriend goes to the same school I do." Lucy pouted, feeling like her best friend kept this from her.

"It probably just slipped her mind." Natsu replied as Yukino did a finishing pose, indicating the end of her performance.

The petite silver-haired girl didn't seem to notice Lucy and Natsu as she walked to the corner where Sting was sitting on a sleek leather couch. Rogue had moved the hookah and was now sitting adjacent to Sting on an arm chair. Lucy, slightly miffed that her friend didn't notice her, began making her way through the crowd to get to her friend. Natsu followed close behind, brows knit together in concern.

Lucy politely tapped the girl on the shoulder when they finally reached them. "Hey, Yukino," she said.

Sting raised his beer and nodded to Natsu, who gave a nod back. Rogue remained indifferent.

Yukino jumped at the familiar voice. "Ohmygosh, Lucy! I didn't know you were going to be at this party!" she squealed, immediately jumping up to hug her blonde friend. Lucy smiled and hugged her back. Even if it wasn't under the most ideal circumstances, it had been forever since she'd seen her best friend.

"I came with Natsu. It's actually our friend Mira who's throwing the party." Lucy explained, her smile growing brighter with every word. She loved having so many friends now.

"Oh awesome! Oh hey wait-" Yukino paused and turned around quickly, grabbing Sting's hand and pulling him to his feet next to her, "I want you to meet Sting! We've been dating for a few weeks now! He goes to Magnolia High just like you!"

Sting smiled lazily and extended his hand to shake, "So you're Natsu's girl now, huh? That's cool. Any friend of Natsu's is a friend of mine." Lucy giggled and shook his hand. Natsu, who was standing next to her, chuckled and draped an arm over his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Yeah, she's my girl now. Good to see you've found one of your own," said Natsu, nodding in Yukino's direction.

Yukino's eyes seemed to finally find Natsu, and she immediately pulled her best friend away from the boys. "Lucy is that really Natsu?!" she whisper-screamed once they were out of hearing range.

Lucy blushed and offered a small, sheepish smile, "Yeah, that's him. Isn't he great?"

"Great? He's so _hot!_ You really scored with that one. Good for you, girl!"

"Thanks, I really like him you know. He's the adventure I always wished for." Lucy said, glancing over at her boyfriend who was currently smoking out of the hookah with Sting and Rogue.

"Well, that's good," Yukino smiled fondly at her friend, "So what do you think of Sting?" She bit her lip and looked off to the side. If Lucy didn't know her better, she would think Yukino was waiting for her approval.

"He's a friend of Natsu's, and he seems nice. You two look really cute together."

Yukino smiled wide at that. "Thanks! Hey wanna grab some drinks? I'm parched!"

Lucy giggled at that, glancing down at her now empty cup. She'd been sipping on her second cup for a while, but couldn't feel the alcohol affecting her. If anything, she just felt really happy. "Yeah, come on I'll make you what I had. It's really good, Natsu made it for me!"

Natsu watched the two make their way to the kitchen from his spot on the couch. He stole Yukino's spot on the couch when she stole his girlfriend from him. So now here he was, smoking Sabertooth out of a hookah with some old friends. Sting was blowing huge clouds into the air while Rogue was blowing delicate little o's.

Back in middle school, the two weren't very fond of Natsu. They used challenge him and Gajeel to fights all the time, but no matter how much trash they talked, they never stood a chance against the two experienced fighters. When they started high school and experimented with weed, they all chilled out and Sting and Rogue admitted to looking up to Gajeel and Natsu. Even now, although they smoked different dros, they were all really good friends.

"Soooo Natsu…" Sting started, lazily blowing the hookah smoke out of his mouth, "that girlfriend of yours… she's really something."

Natsu perked an eyebrow at his tone, "What about her?" he asked.

Sting laughed and, oddly enough, so did Rogue. "Come _on_ man, she's so hot. I'm telling you, you really hit the jackpot with that one. And what's it been now? Two months?"

"Don't talk about her like that, and don't you have a girlfriend? I thought you said you were going to be serious about this one?" Natsu chastised, sounding miffed.

Sting shrugged off the comment with a wave of his hand, "I am, but that's not the point. The point is, my pink-haired friend, have you hit that yet or not?" he smirked, giving the blonde girl a long glance-over. She and Yukino had already retrieved their beverages from the kitchen and were now dancing playfully together to _Wild for the Night_.

"Man, fuck off. I don't think that's any of your business." Natsu growled, watching Sting get an eyeful of his girlfriend. He knew the blonde male was high and probably drunk too but that didn't give him an excuse to be an asshole. "Your fucking girlfriend is here too, you know. Maybe move that look over to her."

Sting paid him no mind, keeping his eyes steady on the two girls winding their hips on the dance floor. Scoffing bitterly, Natsu turned his eyes to the two girls as well. They looked like they were having fun, and it didn't take much to be able to tell that Lucy was already getting a little tipsy. He smiled lazily as he watched her dance to her hearts content. Her hair was messed up now from her dancing and her shirt had ridden ever so slightly up her stomach, giving the whole party (and what was most of Magnolia's adolescent population) a peek at her creamy skin. Natsu wanted to go over to her and shove the stupid shirt down and kiss her in a way that showed everyone that she was _his_ and only his. He was actually just about to do that when Yukino leaned in close to Lucy's ear. From another perspective, it would have looked like the two were about to kiss. Natsu watched, interested, as Lucy giggled and the girls disappeared into the crowd of people.

He chuckled, already having a good guess as to what was about to go down. He leaned back in his seat and took a long swig of his Fireball whiskey. This was going to be good.

"Heeey where'd they go?" Sting whined. Rogue, who had also been watching the girls with mild interest, pouted a little as well when the two showed no signs of returning.

"Salamander!" Gajeel shouted, taking long strides towards the group. He had Jellal by his side.

"Have you seen Levy? Bixlow said they stopped doing shots a little while ago. I can't find her anywhere." Gajeel said as he reached them.

"Erza disappeared on me too. Do you think she's with Lucy?" Jellal asked, looking distressed as he scanned the room for the thirtieth time.

Natsu smirked, already knowing where all the girls ran off to. He had a feeling she would gather up all her friends to sing with her, on account of not wanting to sing alone. If he got his timing right, he supposed Mira would be making an announcement right about…

"Okay party people! I have a few special friends here who are going to grace us with a very _sexy_ performance. Buckle up, fellas! Here come Erza, Levy, Yukino and Lucy!"

Jellal and Gajeel's jaws dropped as they heard the names. Sting got really excited and started calling out to Yukino loudly from his seat ("That's my baby! Whooo get it Yuki!")

The dance floor cleared just enough for the girls to make their entrance. On the ground, Erza and Yukino stepped in the middle of the clearing, both striking a pose with their microphones. Levy, small as she was, opted to stand on top of the beer pong table and cocked her hip out as she brought the mic to her lips. Lucy, being the playful little devil she was, stepped onto the sturdy coffee table and started winding her hips to the start of the music.

" _I'm telling you to loosen up my buttons babe…"_ the four started together, swaying their hips in sync. Cat-calls echoed through the house as the beat picked up and people started to recognize the song, " _But you keep fronting. Saying what you gon' do to me. But I ain't seen nothin'"_

Natsu couldn't keep the pleased smirk off his face as he watched his girlfriend in pure appreciation. She was wearing the most clothes out of any girl here yet she still managed to look the sexiest in his eyes. When she was up there dancing he found it hard to believe she'd ever been nervous about coming to the party. Meanwhile, Gajeel was torn between sitting back and enjoying the performance his little bluenette girlfriend was giving and ripping her off the beer pong table. Christ she was wearing a dress, the whole damn house was getting a good view of her panties. Snarling, Gajeel got up from his seat and went over to where Levy was dancing and singing, all while giving the guys around her a peep show.

"Levy!" he shouted, shoving away the dozens of guys who were trying to look up her skirt. He wanted to punch them all in the face, but that could wait. "Shrimp, c'mon you gotta get down from there! You're giving all these creeps a good look at your panties!"

Levy just giggled. Too inebriated (with like 6 or 7 shots of tequila in her system) to think straight, she playfully turned away from her boyfriend. " _Typical, hardly the type I fall for, I like when the physical don't leave me asking for more. I'm a sexy mama,_ " she dipped down low right next to Jet who was getting a great eyeful. He fainted and she winked at the crowd. " _Who knows just how to get what I wanna, what I want to do is spring this on ya'. Back up all of things that I told ya'…_ "

Gajeel growled. He'd had enough of this. She was too drunk to know that she was pissing him off or that she was letting all these guys look up her skirt. Without another word he roughly grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder. When they were a significant distance from the beer pong table, or any raised surface, he set her down.

"You can dance on the ground. Just stay away from high places." He warned. She giggled and pecked his lips in response. She left him again to go join Lucy by the coffee table, though instead of standing on it like the blonde was (who had opted for jeans), she stood in front.

" _You've been saying all the right things all night long, but I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off. Baby can't you see? How these clothes are fitting on me?_ " Lucy sang perfectly, winding her hips to the music. She made eye contact with Natsu from across the room and winked. If he thought he was enjoying himself now… " _And the heat comin from this beat. I'm about to blow, I don't think you know._ "

As the girls slipped back into the chorus easily, each of them started making their way to their respective boyfriend. Yukino perched herself on Sting's lap and he wrapped his arms around her waist with no intention of letting her go. Erza waltzed right up to Jellal's side and dipped down low as she sang, leaving him a flustered mess. Levy made her way to Gajeel who was leaning against the wall with a beer in hand. She made it a point to grind her backside onto him as she sang and let out a little breathy moan when she felt him grab her hips tightly. Those who heard the moan over the mic wolf-whistled.

Lucy was at first just going to dance directly in front of Natsu at this part. All she wanted was to make him squirm a little in his seat while she danced away only slightly out of reach. After seeing the way he looked at her though, she didn't know if _she_ would be content just dancing in front of him. So when it was finally time for the girls to join their boyfriends, Lucy found herself walking steadily towards the smirking Natsu with clear determination and a confident smirk on her lips. He wouldn't be smirking when she got over there.

Natsu's eyes widened when his girlfriend straddled his hips instead of just dancing like he thought she was going to. His hands immediately went to her hips as she swayed and rolled them over his own. He couldn't believe what was happening. All he had planned for this evening was to go to a party, have a smoke and a couple drinks with his lovely girlfriend and then go home. And now here he was, getting a lap dance from this _illicitly_ hot girl, his girl. He wasn't aware that his mouth had been open for a while until she playfully shut it for him before winking suggestively. He couldn't even hear the words she was saying anymore, she was so hypnotizing.

Erza and Yukino were singing now, and Natsu could barely make out Jellal's flushed face as Erza mentioned something along the lines of " _I wonder if I'm just too much for you_ " and would have laughed if his attention wasn't on the girl dancing on him. He wasn't even listening to them anymore as he had to use every fiber of willpower in his body in order to keep his hands from roaming. As it is, he was already gripping her hips rather tightly. She might have bruises come morning.

Much, much too soon all the girls removed themselves from their boyfriends and gathered in the center of the dance floor again, singing the last part of the song together. They danced really well together, in spite of most them being drunk and/or high. They ended the song with a finishing pose and a deafening applause and mixture of cheers and whoops drowned out all of the noise in the room. The four were swarmed immediately by everyone. Jellal had to fight his way through the crowd in order to get to Erza, while Gajeel cast a few glares and suddenly a path had been cleared to get to Levy.

Natsu sat back with Sting, waiting for their respective girlfriends to return to them. None too soon, the girls eventually made their way back to the boys. "Did you enjoy that?" Lucy asked, a little red in the face as she cuddled up next to Natsu.

"I think I enjoyed that a little too much," he smirked back, joint in hand.

Lucy plucked the little joint from his hand and took a loooong drag. This one tasted a little different than what she was used to. She shot a confused look at Natsu, "Natsu, what's in this?"

Sting, who was still sitting next to the two, smirked. "You're smoking Sabertooth, class 3-S's choice of herb. You like?" he asked. Lucy took another drag and made a face, "Sorry, but I don't think it's for me. I prefer Fairy Tail."

Mock hurt flew across Sting's face for a second, but it quickly melted into a laugh. Yukino giggled beside him as she practiced her hookah tricks. She was getting pretty good at o's.

"Don't worry babe, I love Sabertooth," she said cheekily, blowing a little smoke in his face.

The four (or five, if you include Rogue pitching in every once in a while) conversed for a little while longer before Sting decided it was probably time to get Yukino home since she was still under curfew. Rogue tagged along with the two and soon it was only Natsu and Lucy again.

"Are you having fun?" he asked gently, tracing patterns on her jeans with his finger.

"Yeah," Lucy replied, smiling. He could never get enough of that smile. "It was really fun seeing Yukino again, and I got to meet Sting and Rogue," she finished with a little yawn.

"Tired?"

Lucy nodded, her eyes drooping as she leaned against Natsu's shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her, smiling gently. The party was winding down by now. Mira and Lisanna were still having fun with the karaoke machine. Elfman and Evergreen made their way upstairs not too long after the party started. A few minutes ago Gajeel had bid them goodbye with a very passed out bluenette in his arms. Levy had just a little too much to drink tonight, it seems. Gray had found his (or someone's) boxers and was lounging on one of the many couches, sharing a blunt with Juvia. The only ones who still seemed to be drinking were Erza, Cana, Laxus, and Bixlow. Jellal was nursing a beer while Erza was slamming jello-shots with Cana. The party wasn't over yet for them and no one could curb Cana's premature alcoholism.

It was getting pretty late anyways, so Natsu decided it was the perfect time to catch the last train home. He nudged his dozing girlfriend awake. "Luce, c'mon let's get outta here. I'm getting tired too."

Lucy groaned as she awoke. Her head was starting to hurt and she felt like she was gonna throw up. She wasn't hungover already was she? Suddenly, she felt the most uncomfortable churn in her stomach and made a beeline for the bathroom. Fortunately it wasn't occupied and she immediately emptied the contents of her stomach into the porcelain bowl. One warm hand that definitely wasn't hers pulled her hair back from around her face and held it at the nape of her neck while another hand rubbed soothing circles on her back as she retched.

"Natsuuuu," Lucy whined when she felt like she was done, "why did you let me drink? I don't feel good anymore."

Natsu grinned a little bit. His alcohol tolerance was higher than hers, and most of the other girls' too, so although he'd been high for most of the party, the alcohol he drank didn't really affect him. But since this was her first time drinking, he honestly didn't expect her to have more than one drink. He told her this in response to her question.

"I didn't mean to get drunk, you know," she pouted, sitting back on her heels. "You should keep a better eye on me."

Even though Natsu knew she was joking, she wasn't wrong. She didn't get more than just a little tipsy tonight, but if she had then he was sure some guy that wasn't him could have easily taken advantage of her when he wasn't looking. "You're right, I'm sorry. You can count on me to always keep you safe Luce," he said soberly, helping the blonde to her feet.

Lucy rinsed her mouth out with water quickly, eager to get the taste of weed, alcohol, and vomit out of her mouth. She was so ready to go home.

The pair bid their goodbyes to the remaining company. They got a playful _don't take advantage of her Natsuuuu_ from a very tipsy Mira, while Cana merely winked and silently offered a thumbs up. Gray tipped his empty beer bottle in acknowledgement, but he looked pretty far gone himself. With some polite goodbyes from the others, the two eventually made their way out of the house and onwards towards the nearest train station.

The ride to Lucy's house was had in comfortable silence. Natsu had an arm wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulders, keeping her pressed tightly to his side. She was dosing off already, making cute little snores as she wandered off into dreamland. He pressed a kiss to her temple and rubbed her goose bump ridden arm. It had gotten chilly outside and he really wished one of them had brought a jacket.

He thought about how the night had ended, with Sting and Rogue still leering at Lucy in their inebriated state. How possessive he'd felt when Sting was making comments left and right about his girlfriend's body. He didn't like that one bit and he would definitely be talking with those two once they were sober enough to actually hear a damn thing he was saying. But this possessiveness he'd felt of Lucy… it was definitely something he'd never felt before. He couldn't stand the thought of her in the arms of someone else. Was he already head over heels in love with her only two months into their relationship?

Natsu looked at the blonde's peacefully sleeping face, feeling the warmth within him, which for once wasn't induced by herb smoking, grow. He didn't ever want to let her go, no matter what. She was the very light of his life. With her around, he felt that he didn't need to have had a whole gram of bud to be high because he was just high off of her presence. Ah god, what had he become? These sappy thoughts would have never occurred to pre-Lucy Natsu.

"What are you doing to me, weirdo?" he whispered into her hair. He gripped her shoulder a little tighter, holding her flush against his side as she slept.

He decided that yes, even two months into their relationship he was already head over heels in love with this weirdo, Lucy Heartfilia.

Soon the little electric sign near the door of the train beeped and flashed, indicating that their stop was coming up soon. Natsu moved to nudge his girlfriend awake, but stopped once he saw the small smile she had on her face. _She must be having a nice dream,_ he thought. He decided against waking her this time. The train slowed to a stop and Natsu moved to pick up the sleeping blonde. He carried her bridal style the two blocks from the train stop to her apartment complex and up the two flights of stairs to her apartment.

It took a few seconds for him to fumble through her little purse for her keys while simultaneously trying to keep from dropping Lucy. He ended up doing some sort of yoga pose with one leg propped up on the railing to support her weight and free one of his hands so he could dig through her bag. Eventually he got it and made his way into her apartment.

Jesus, he was exhausted. Lucy wasn't heavy by a long shot but he still had quite a bit to drink tonight and alcohol tended to slow him down. Natsu shut the door behind him and quietly greeted Plue, who was seated on the couch awaiting their return. He opened her bedroom door as quietly as possible, smirking to himself as he spied the mess she'd made earlier that evening in her rush to get ready.

Tucking her into bed proved to be a different challenge in and of itself. Lucy was a clingy little thing when she was sleeping. Her arms refused to let go of his neck, shirt, arms, hands, and he had to pry her off of him several times before handing her a stray teddy bear he'd found on the floor to cuddle with. He pulled off her boots and pulled the covers up to her chin, kissing her on the cheek gently. Deciding that his job here was done and that she was safe and at home, he turned to leave.

"Thank you, Natsu…"

It had been so quiet he couldn't be sure he'd actually heard it. When he turned around to look at her, she was back to snoring peacefully, clutching the little brown bear he'd given her just moments ago. Natsu smiled warmly at her sleeping figure, knowing exactly how he fell in love with this girl in the first place.

"Goodnight Lucy. I love you…" he whispered into the darkness before closing the door to her room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is the fourth chapter for Burn Out. For those of you who follow my SAO fic, I tend to put too much thought into that fic and nothing ends up sounding right so that's why it takes forever to update. This one flows easier because I don't think about it until I'm actually writing. Does anyone else experience this? Let me know in the reviews if this is common, or if I'm crazy.**

 **On with the chapter!**

 ** _Thump thump thump_**

 _Ugh, what the hell?_

 ** _Thump thump THUMP_**

"Oi, shut the hell up I'm coming!"

Natsu groaned and made his way to the door, wondering who in the right mind needed him to be up so damn early in the morning. A quick peek at his cell phone told him that it was nearing afternoon, but still! He was still grumbling to himself as he unlatched the deadbolt and swung the door open, ready to give whoever was on the other side a good beating.

"LUCY! Why haven't you been- who the hell are you?"

Natsu blinked slowly, trying to remember if he knew the guy with the bushy orange hair that showed up to his house looking for his girlfriend.

"Who the fuck are _you_?" he replied none too politely.

In the next few seconds in which Natsu had absolutely _no clue_ as to what exactly occurred, he found himself on his ass leaning against the wall furthest from the door. His behind was definitely going to be suffering a few bruises. The orange haired guy was now _seething_ , nearly foaming at the mouth in rage. In four long strides he walked right up to Natsu, picking him up by the collar of his (very nice, very _new_ ) shirt and pinning him against the wall.

"Listen here, you little shit. If you did _anything_ to my princess, there will be fucking hell to pay do you hear me? I will end your life," the guy snarled, looking much more like a lion waiting to eat it's pray than a man threatening a teenage boy.

Natsu, not being in the mood for any of this guy's bullshit so early in the morning, growled back, "Listen, _pal._ I don't know what the fuck you're talking about but if you want to make something of it then bring it on. I never laid a hand on Lucy!" Then, as an afterthought and just to be an asshole to this guy, he added with a shit-eating grin, "Well, none that she didn't want me to."

Orange dude nearly caught fire. "WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"LOKE!"

Both men nearly jumped out of their skin at the new voice. Simultaneously, and almost comically, the two turned to face a very angry blonde who stood in the doorway to her room. Plue was cowering behind her, having been frightened by the skirmish that was about to happen in Lucy's living room. It was in this moment that Natsu's sleep-ridden brain registered that no, this was not his apartment. He had fallen asleep on Lucy's couch last night, not sober enough to go home. Ah, he was so fucked.

"Natsu, _what_ are you doing in my apartment so early?" Lucy fumed, marching right up to the pair. Loke (which is apparently orange dude's name) released Natsu from his hold and set him back down on the ground.

"I-uh-Well, after I took you home last night I was really tired and _you know_ , so I guess I just crashed on your couch," Natsu tried to explain, but Lucy didn't look at all pleased, "Uh… sorry?"

Lucy turned to face Loke, but gave Natsu a look that said she'd be dealing with him later. "And what, exactly, are you here for?"

Loke straightened himself, "Princess, I tried calling you last night as I normally do on Saturday nights but you weren't answering your phone. I got worried and came to check on you."

Natsu found himself getting more agitated by the second. Just who the fuck was this guy, anyways? And why was he calling _his girlfriend_ "Princess"? Lucy was now holding a very friendly sounding conversation with the guy as she assured him that she was fine and that she didn't have her phone on her last night. Both statements were entirely true, as Natsu advised her to leave her phone at home while they were at the party so she wouldn't accidently lose it or break it.

"Lucy?" he interrupted, sounding angrier than intended.

Lucy stopped pleading with Loke long enough to catch the look in Natsu's eye. He wasn't happy with her. There was another man in her life that got to call her a pet name, and that she was obviously close with, but she never told him or even bothered to introduce him. Or even to tell Loke about him. Guilty, Lucy reached to grab his hand but he yanked it away, hurt.

She sighed, motioning to Loke, "Natsu this is my bodyguard, Loke."

Loke's glare never faltered once. "And who might this be, Lucy? Some street urchin you picked up as a charity case?" he said haughtily. It took nearly all of Natsu's self-restraint not to deck this guy in the face. Those Armani glasses were just meant to be broken.

Lucy gasped at his words and punched him square in the chest. It seemed to knock the wind out of the ginger, and Natsu smirked a little to himself. His girl knew how to handle herself.

"Don't you dare talk about _my boyfriend_ like that!"

The look on Loke's face alone at the word "boyfriend" was enough to lighten Natsu's mood for the entire week. He looked like a kicked puppy. Quickly, the abandoned dog looked transformed into one of rage. Lucy didn't seem fazed at all by this, she actually looked rather annoyed at her bodyguard's antics. The ginger either didn't notice, or was too used to her being annoyed with him. Either way, Loke was pissed.

" _Boyfriend?!_ Does your father know about this?" he seethed.

Father? Oh, right. Lucy's dad was some mega business tycoon. Natsu honestly doubted Lucy had said anything about him to her father. He wasn't exactly the picture of the perfect boyfriend in the eyes of many fathers. He was a total pothead and his only income came from his dealing, which is not exactly what any dad would like to hear about his daughter's boyfriend. This probably meant he wouldn't be meeting Lucy's old man any time soon.

Lucy didn't at all seem intimidated by the angry redhead. "He'll know soon enough, won't he? I was planning on introducing Natsu to him next weekend anyways."

Well, she hadn't planned on that until last night, when Natsu very _nonchalantly_ declared he loved her while she was half asleep. She still wasn't even sure the whole thing wasn't a dream! It had made her so happy that she couldn't go to sleep for another two hours. She was also a little pissed that the first time he said it was when she was half passed out and tipsy. How unromantic. Speaking of said boyfriend, Lucy chanced a peak at him. He looked like he just saw a ghost.

"I-I'm gonna meet your dad?" he squeaked, shrinking back a bit.

Loke smirked, pushing his tinted glasses up his nose, "Will that be a problem?"

Natsu straightened a bit from the challenge, "No, not at all," he lied smoothly. Truthfully it was only eleven-thirty and he'd already considered bolting from the apartment about half a dozen times.

Loke smirked, his glare having simmered down to a more smug look. "Good, I'll see you next weekend then. Do be dressed to impress."

He turned to leave but turned to Lucy at the door, "Oh and Lucy, please wash your clothes before you come over. Your apartment smells like marijuana and I'm sure your father wouldn't be pleased."

Lucy blushed bright red and shoved the man out the door before he had the chance to make any more snarky comments. Natsu stood by with the same dumbstruck look that he'd been wearing for the past few minutes.

He was going to meet Lucy's father? The intimidating old man that she always talked about. What the fuck was he supposed to say to a guy like that? The bodyguard was bad enough as it is, Natsu could only imagine that her dad would be ten times worse. Oh man, he was gonna have to smoke a whole bowl to calm himself down after all this. Finally taking a deep breath, he turned to face Lucy who was leaning with her back against the wall.

"Lucy, what the hell was that?" he asked. Lucy just looked tired. No doubt his little spat with Loke is what woke her up. She was also not without a minor degree of hangover.

Lucy made her way to the curtains, pulling them closed to soothe her headache. The darkness was comforting, but the way Natsu was staring at her was not. "Sorry, I was trying not to get you dragged into all of my family issues. Loke's been my bodyguard since I started high school, and I don't know if you've noticed but he's super protective of me." Oh, he noticed. "He usually calls me on Saturday nights to see if I'm still doing alright. I forgot about that last night and I guess he got worried."

Natsu had gathered that much from his earlier conversation with the ginger. "Well yeah, but now I have to meet your dad?"

"Oh," Lucy's eyes cast down for a bit. Shit. "He's not that bad, really. I'd hoped you two would meet sometime eventually, so I didn't think it would be a big deal…"

 _Like a complete shit_ described exactly how Natsu felt right at that moment. He knew that meeting her old man would be inevitable at some point, he just didn't think it'd be so soon. It wasn't like he didn't care about meeting her family or was against it, he just felt he needed more time to prepare. Considering it wouldn't be out of character for him to _royally fuck up everything_ , Natsu was just overwhelmed at the prospect of having to impress Lucy's very rich, and very intimidating, father.

"Ah, no. It's not that. I'm fine, really. I'd like to meet your dad. I just… y'know, don't wanna screw everything up." Natsu confessed, raising a hand to scratch the back of his head.

Lucy looked up, eyes suddenly brimming with hope. "Really? You mean that?"

"Y-Yeah. Of course."

The smile gave him when he said that made him absolutely melt. It can't be legal for a smile to be that bright and heartwarming. Gah, she was doing that thing again! Making his thoughts go all mushy and gushy and eugh. _I love her_ , Natsu reminded himself, _I love her and that's why these thoughts come up_. He needs a packed bowl right now.

Lucy and Natsu spent the rest of the afternoon cuddled on the couch, smoking out of Lucy's pipe. Turns out the high didn't do anything to ease Natsu's paranoia about meeting Lucy's father. If anything, it made it worse. His brain kept coming up with worst case scenarios, each one more ridiculous than the last. It started with him stuttering and falling all over himself in front of him, but soon it all moved to him getting jumped by Loke and whatever other body guards Lucy's dad had as soon as he got off the train.

"Why are you getting all nervous about meeting my dad?" Lucy asked, swinging her feet up to rest on his lap. He tugged off her socks and absently began rubbing her feet.

"I dunno. I feel like he'll know I'm not good enough for you. Like Loke did…" he said, eyes downcast. There was a quiet gasp and he felt Lucy pull his fingers from her toes to intertwine with hers. He looked up to meet her eyes, which were wide in disbelief.

"You don't honestly think you're not good enough for me, do you?" she whispered, bringing her face very close to his. He pinked a little at the proximity. It's not often that they're this close without the intention of making out.

Remembering her question, he sighed. "You're like _really perfect_ , you know? And I'm like… _really_ not. I'm a complete stoner, I get below average grades, and my income comes from dealing. I may not know your dad but I know what he wants your boyfriend to be. It's what every dad wants for his daughter, and it's not me," he said solemnly, not quite meeting her eyes yet.

Lucy was quiet for a long time after that. He wondered, briefly, if she was contemplating breaking up with him. It wouldn't be a surprise. He didn't want her to, though. He wanted her to see something in him that he didn't see, that no one saw. Natsu chanced a peek at the blonde, who seemed to be thinking hard about something. She didn't look unhappy though, just apprehensive.

"I heard you last night."

What? For about half a second, Natsu sat confused. Was she talking about his snoring or perhaps how he forgot to leave and crashed on her couch? _Wait_. That's right. He declared his love for her. While she was supposed to be asleep.

"Uhhh—" Shit.

"I love you too."

It was like time stopped short. The world around him dissolved into a white fuzz and there was just her. Just his beautiful, amazing, perfect girlfriend that he was in love with. And she loved him back. Natsu felt his chest swell with feelings he wasn't familiar with before these two months with her. There was not a moment of hesitation when he leaned down and kissed her. It was sweet and simple, unlike the majority of the times their lips have met. It was real though, and Natsu wanted her to know that she was the most important person in his life.

Lucy blushed as he pulled away, in quiet awe at his actions. She was determined though. He needed to understand. "You are the perfect person for me. I don't ever want you to think otherwise, okay? If you think you're not good enough for me, that's bullshit. I've never given a damn what my dad thinks or says. He doesn't control me and his opinions surely don't mean shit to me. So don't worry about meeting him. Whatever happens, I still love you."

There weren't words that Natsu wanted to hear more. She was as accepting as she was beautiful and his stoner brain couldn't even begin to comprehend how she thought he was good enough for her. Lucy broke into a grin as bright as the sun, and it was absolutely vital that he kiss her in that moment. The kiss turned heated very quickly, especially now that all their feelings were out in the open. Natsu had his shirt halfway off when the door swung open.

Apparently, it was also absolutely vital that Gray and Erza burst through the door right at that moment. Just their luck.

"LUCY!" they shouted, walking leisurely into the apartment. Gray settled himself on one of Lucy's barstools and Erza made her way into the kitchen.

Over the course of the past two months, Lucy found herself becoming very close with Gray and Erza. It was odd, considering Natsu and Gray didn't really get along but had some sort of kinship. Apparently they're neighbors, so that might have something to do with it. Erza was the only one able to keep those two from fighting all the time. She was like Lucy's knight in shining armor. Lucy had a unique friendship with Erza, since the redhead was just as girly as she was, but she was also tough. And she had her life together, being valedictorian and student council president. In some ways, Lucy saw Erza as a mentor.

But that didn't mean she needed those two in her apartment right now. Things were just about to get heated with Natsu and _these two goons show up._ Not to mention his shirt was already halfway undone and he was sporting the boner of the century.

"Guys," Lucy seethed, peeling herself off of Natsu's lap. He grabbed a couch cushion to hide his little (or perhaps not) 'problem'. "Not that I don't love you and all, but _why are you here_? Shouldn't you all be hungover still from last night."

Gray shrugged, "You're not hungover."

He had a point. Lucy wasn't suffering the effects of a hangover anymore. She thought perhaps it was because she threw up last night and didn't have all that much to drink. Also Natsu made sure she had nothing to drink but water since Loke left. She also didn't have as much to drink as much as Gray and Erza had. She turned her questioning look on the redhead.

"I make the best hangover cure in all of Magnolia. The secret is the fish paste!" Erza smirked, pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

Lucy gagged a little and Natsu may or may not have thrown up in his mouth. Whatever Erza concocted that cured both her and Gray's hangovers was definitely not pleasant. Gray looked a little pale at the memory of such unpleasant beverages. At least it had cured him of his early morning migraine and enabled him to leave Mira's house before her parents got back. Erza made sure that everyone who slept over got a taste of her famous hangover cure before they left.

"Well… that doesn't sound pleasant. Anyways, again, why are you here? In my apartment?" Lucy asked, smoothing out her shirt a little. Gray shrugged.

"Had nowhere else to be, we thought we'd come hang with you guys."

"Yes," Erza confirmed, nodding her head, "And might I ask, why are you two still in last night's clothes?"

Lucy hadn't realized that she'd fallen asleep in her clothes from the party, and it wasn't like Natsu had anything to change into since he spent the night. How was she going to explain that to Erza?!

"Well, I fell asleep in this last night and Natsu, uh-"

"I spent the night and didn't have anything to change into," Natsu finished for her. The look Erza gave him was scathing, but he already knew what would calm her down. Without sparing her a glance, he pulled a freshly rolled blunt out of his backpack that he was saving for that evening. He offered it to the seething redhead, who softened the teeniest bit as she lit up.

"So Natsu," she started, puffing a small cloud of smoke out, "why were you spending the night at Lucy's? You weren't violating her in any way, were you?"

Natsu's face flamed at the accusation. Jesus, why does everyone think all he wants to do is get in her pants? First Sting, then Loke, and now Erza! Natsu wished everyone would stop thinking he's some sort of pervert. He had respect, damn it! If Lucy wanted to go that far with him someday, he'd be down. But he certainly wasn't going to force himself upon her. The light petting they did on a regular basis was enough to keep him satisfied. If she's happy, then he is too.

"For the record, I slept on the couch. Not a pervert, unlike Magic Mike over there. Gray where's your goddamn shirt!"

Gray cursed under his breath at the realization before deciding that his habit was a lost cause. It's futile to try and get his shirt back, he'd just end up losing it again. He'd just go about the rest of the day shirtless.

Lucy, feeling noticeably awkward at having been caught, went to her bedroom to change her clothes. _It might be a good time for a shower, too_ , she thought. They should all be fine out there right? Erza and Natsu were smoking, and Gray was still shirtless. Everything should be fine right?

Wrong.

Twenty-five minutes later Lucy emerged from her bedroom, dressed cutely in a light pink halter top that showed a little bit of belly, and white high-waisted shorts. She toed on some pink and white flip flops before making her way into the living room to face a total and utter _disaster_. All of them (or at least those that she could see) were completely stoned. Gray was taking large hits from a bong that Lucy is positive she didn't have before. Natsu was asleep on her couch again with Plue cuddled up to his side, drooling. Erza was nowhere to be found, but all of Lucy's snacks and various foods from her kitchen were now scattered across her living room floor! Oh and Gray was now pantless as well, wearing nothing but his boxers.

"GUYS!" she screamed, face red with fury.

This seemed to wake Natsu from his nap. Gray looked up from his bong session and Erza poked her head out of Lucy's walk-in closet. They all turned to look at her, as if they had done nothing wrong.

"What the hell did you all do to my apartment!?"

"We got hungry…" Natsu yawned, sitting up.

"That doesn't explain why all of my food is all over the floor! Geez, you guys. You could at least try to pick up after yourselves," Lucy sighed, picking up some of the trash and wrappers scattered about. To her surprise, Natsu began to help her pick up and so did Gray.

After all the mess had been cleaned up in the living room, Erza emerged from the bedroom once more. "Lucy, your closet has been organized by color, category, and level of revealingness. You're welcome."

Lucy just sweatdropped, "Uh, thanks Erza."

The four lounged around and smoked for next couple of hours. Lucy had her head in Natsu's lap as she shared the bong with Gray. Erza dragged Lucy's bean bag that she kept in the bedroom to the living room and claimed it for the rest of the afternoon. Gray sat on the floor leaning against the couch and managed to keep his boxers on. Lucy noticed he and Natsu were far less violent towards each other when high. As a matter of fact, Lucy could say that Gray was just a lot nicer in general when he's high. He was always nice to her, of course, but there was always some sort of a mood with that one. She was surprised he was even sharing the bong with her!

Suddenly, Lucy remembered a question she'd been meaning to ask Gray for a while now. "Hey Gray," she called to get his attention. He looked up at her from his spot on the floor, waiting for her to continue. "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but what exactly is that dab stuff you do with Cana sometimes?"

Gray looked surprised at the question, but Erza looked to him too. "Yeah, I've always wanted to know what that was too," she said.

He sighed, pausing for a moment as if he himself was having trouble explaining it. "Well I don't really use the herb itself when doing dabs. It's performed with something we call shatter. It's basically solidified THC." Lucy had to try to keep herself from gasping aloud. Such a thing existed? "It's a little pricier than the herb, but I don't mind. Cana buys it sometimes too. The high is so worth it."

Gray tried to explain the logistics and process of doing dabs, and Lucy did her best to follow along. Apparently there was something called a nail involved, and they burned the shatter which produced a steam-like smoke. One hit could create a high that lasted up to two hours ("That's insane!" Natsu had exclaimed). After he was done explaining everything, Lucy found that she was no more knowledgeable of the process than she had been before. Dabs were still very foreign to her, but she thought she might give it a try if she were ever given the chance.

"You should," said Gray, "it's always good to try new things, and dabs aren't nearly as scary as some people make it out to be."

Natsu had never been fond of dabs. He tried it once when he and Gray were first starting out with weed, but decided he preferred the warmth of smoking. There was something about the way the herb smoke tasted and how it felt in his throat that made it much more preferable to dab smoke.

Soon it was around dinner time and everyone was absolutely _starving_. Natsu hadn't eaten much since the day before and Erza and Gray had only snacked throughout the day. Lucy decided now was the perfect time to introduce her cooking skills to her friends! Her chicken alfredo was to die for, or so Yukino said. She liked to think cooking was one of the things she got from her mother. While Layla died when Lucy was very young, Lucy still remembers her mom always refusing to have a cook or a personal chef, since she loved cooking. When her mom passed, Lucy dedicated much of her time to perfecting her mother's recipes.

After sending Erza and Gray off to get some drinks and dessert (at Erza's request), Lucy set to work. She shredded mozzarella and parmesan and began to cook the noodles. She was in the middle of slicing uncooked chicken when she felt another presence in the kitchen.

"Smells delicious…" a warm voice came from behind her. Lucy felt a pair of strong arms snake around her waist and she giggled as Natsu pressed a light kiss to her neck.

"It's my mom's recipe. Been in the family for generations. I'm a quarter Italian, you know?" she smirked, wiping her hands on her apron.

Natsu's smile faltered a little, "You never talk about your mom…"

"She's not around anymore. Got sick when I was little," Lucy replied a little forlornly. She forgot she hadn't brought up her mother much. She guessed it was more of a subconscious thing, since neither one of them brought up their parents in casual conversation.

"I would've loved to meet her…" Natsu murmured into her hair, surprising her a little. It was such a sensitive thing to say, and although Natsu was prone to making sweet comments like that when they were alone, she wasn't expecting it right then.

She smiled. "She would've loved you. Mom always said I needed some adventure in my life."

"Oh, so I'm you're adventure?" Natsu smirked.

"Well, yeah. I never really had close friends growing up. Yukino was the exception, but I was never allowed to see her outside of school. You changed all of that for me. When I moved to Magnolia High I didn't expect to make so many friends, but I met you and all the others," Lucy said, pinking a little in her cheeks, "It's just been so amazing living here and spending time with you all. I know it may seem normal to you guys, but this is my own little adventure."

Natsu was in quiet awe at her honest words. He never knew that she felt so trapped before she moved to Magnolia High. And to think he had the honor of being her adventure. She was right when she said it seemed normal to him, having friends and going to high school and smoking weed, but it was all new to her. Watching his girlfriend cook him dinner while she talked about her old life only made him fall even more in love with her.

"You know, you're kind of an adventure to me too."

"What? How so?" Lucy was sure this guy had more than his fair share of adventure in his life. How could she possibly be considered his adventure? She chanced a peek behind her to find Natsu blushing, refusing to meet her eyes.

"You're my first girlfriend," he admitted, and Lucy flushed bright red. "I mean I gotta admit, that first day here in your apartment… that was my first time doing anything like that."

Lucy's blush only deepened at the mention of their first excursion here at the apartment. They barely even knew each other and they were swapping spit on her couch! "But," Natsu continued, "I wasn't scared or anythin'. I mean everything was just so easy with you. I basically knew I liked you when we first met. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I didn't want you thinkin' I was lame or anything."

"It's not like I've had a boyfriend before either. I've only been on dates with the guys my dad set me up with, who were all like three or four years older and boring," Lucy pulled a face at the mention of her suitors. She never gave any of them the time of day and none had ever gotten the privilege to kiss her.

Natsu smiled a little bit, "Looks like we're on the same page then. Good, at least I don't have to worry about you having more experience than me."

"Guess that means we get to be each other's experience," Lucy laughed.

Natsu had to bite back the bitterness at the thought of Lucy having _other_ experiences. He decided to focus on the present and the beautiful blonde in front of him at the moment. Grabbing her hips, he spun her around so that her back was to the counter and she was facing him, sealing his mouth over hers in a bone-melting kiss. Possessiveness might've gotten the better of him, but he didn't care. She was his and that's all there was to it. Lucy let her fingers knot into soft pink locks and moaned slightly, the sound encouraging him even more. Natsu grappled with her hips, lifting her slightly off the ground to set her on the counter when—

"Ugh, can you two _please_ not do that when we're around!? We were literally gone for five minutes!" Gray groaned, placing a bottle of champagne on the table. Erza stood by with a blank expression, holding a very intricately decorated strawberry-crème cake.

Lucy flushed and planted her feet back on the ground. She quickly turned and refocused her attention on the task at hand: her signature chicken-alfredo dinner. While she was mixing and cooking, she gave Erza the job of setting the table and let the boys rest on the couch until dinner was ready.

While Lucy busied herself with her cooking, Natsu confided in Gray about something that'd been on his mind since earlier that day.

"You're going to meet her dad?" Gray asked after hearing his friend's dilemma.

"Yeah, and he's kind of really intimidating. You know, business tycoon and all?" Natsu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "It's not like I didn't know it would happen, and I mean I'd like to meet her family and all… but I'm just so nervous. I just know he won't like me."

Gray looked thoughtful for a moment, actually considering his pink-haired rival's dilemma for once. Normally he wouldn't have cared at all about Natsu's problems, but this one involved Lucy and he actually considered her his friend. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

"I think I have an answer to your problem."

"Well, what is it?"

"Why don't all Erza and I go with you to meet Lucy's dad?" he suggested right as Erza was walking into the room.

"Well I came to tell you boys that dinner is ready, but that is a fantastic idea Gray," she said, a proud smile coming to her features. Lucy, overhearing the last part of the conversation, walked into the living room as well.

"What's a fantastic idea?" she asked.

Erza turned to face her blonde friend, "Gray suggested he and I go with you and Natsu to meet your dad. I think it is a great idea, is it not?"

Lucy wanted to say it was a _terrible_ idea, but Natsu looked so hopeful and Erza had a look in her eye that said she wasn't about to let this go. "Fine, I guess. Can you guys be here around nine am on Saturday?"

Erza and Gray nodded and the plans were set. The group was going to the Heartfilia estate next weekend.

"By the way, Gray, how did you manage to get champagne? We're all underage."

"Oh, I saw my cousin Loke in the store. He's twenty, so he bought it for us."

"WHAT?"


End file.
